Texas executes Billy Crutsinger in Fort Worth slayings of two elderly women
Crutsinger had pushed to stop his execution based on claims of bad lawyering during his trial and in the appellate process. Full Story
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![Billy Crutsinger.]()
Credit: Jenevieve Robbins -
Texas executed Larry Swearingen for a 1998 Texas slaying. His lawyer says bad science got him on death row.
Swearingen consistently maintained his innocence in the strangling death of 19-year-old Melissa Trotter. Texas prosecutors, however, had no doubt he was her killer. Full Story
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![Larry Swearingen.]()
Credit: TDCJ -
Federal court stops execution of Dexter Johnson within 24 hours of his scheduled death
In his recent appeals, Johnson has claimed he is intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for the death penalty. He was convicted of a double murder in Harris County that took place in 2006. Full Story
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![Death row inmate Dexter Johnson is scheduled for execution on August 15, 2019.]()
Credit: Image via Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
Gunman in El Paso shooting faces death penalty, federal domestic terrorism charges
Police say the gunman legally purchased the weapon he used in the shooting that left 20 people dead and more than two dozen wounded at an El Paso Walmart. Full Story
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![El Paso mass murderer Patrick Crusius' mugshot.]()
Credit: Federal Bureau of Investigation -
In restarting the federal death penalty, AG William Barr looks to Texas
The federal death penalty hasn't been carried out since 2003. Now the U.S. attorney general wants to adopt the method used in Texas executions to put five men to death. Full Story
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![Texas' execution chamber in Huntsville.]()
Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
Despite bipartisan support, Texas bill tackling intellectual disability in death penalty cases fails
Negotiators in the House and Senate couldn't come to an agreement on a bill addressing how Texas handles capital murder defendants who may be intellectually disabled. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executing people with intellectual disabilities amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. Full Story
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![Interior of Death Chamber in Texas.]()
Credit: Jenevieve Robbins/Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
In a nod to Texas, U.S. Department of Justice says FDA can't regulate execution drugs
Texas has been fighting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's ban on the state's attempted import of lethal injection drugs. But the Justice Department says federal law doesn't give the FDA oversight. Full Story
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![Hypodermic needles.]()
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After state Supreme Court ruled execution drug supplier can stay secret, Texas obtains more lethal doses
The prison system's existing doses were all set to expire before the state's five currently scheduled executions. See our updated lethal drug tracker for the latest movement in the state's supply. Full Story
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Texas House OKs bill to ban death penalty for those with severe mental illness
Under the measure, defendants who have active psychotic symptoms of certain mental illnesses at the time of the crime would be ineligible for capital punishment. The bill now heads to the more conservative Senate. Full Story
![Interior of Death Chamber in Texas.]()
Credit: Jenevieve Robbins/Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
Execution stopped for Dexter Johnson, sentenced to death after Harris County rape and murder
Johnson was convicted in the 2007 murders of Maria Aparece and Huy Ngo in Harris County, a crime he committed at 18. He was set for execution Thursday before a court ruled that his new lawyer should have more time to look into federal appellate issues. Full Story
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![Dexter Darnell Johnson.]()
Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
Texas House offers a new way to determine whether a defendant has intellectual disabilities — and is ineligible for execution
The lower chamber gave initial approval to a bill creating a pretrial process to determine if a capital murder defendant is intellectually disabled — more than 15 years after the U.S. Supreme Court said executing such prisoners is cruel and unusual punishment. Full Story
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![State Rep. Senfronia Thomson, D-Houston, gives a seconding speech in favor of electing state Rep. Dennis Bonnen as the new House speaker.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Texas executes John William King in racist dragging death of James Byrd Jr.
King and two other white men were convicted in the brutal East Texas murder of Byrd, who was black. King was the second man executed for the crime; another man is serving a life sentence. Full Story
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Credit: Illustration by Brandon Formby/The Texas Tribune -
State Supreme Court rules Texas can hide the identity of execution drug supplier
Citing security concerns, the state has fought for years to keep the supplier's name secret. Full Story
![Texas' execution chamber in Huntsville.]()
Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
Texas court stops execution of Mark Robertson after claims of racist jury selection
The court issued a stay of Thursday's execution after his lawyers argued that Robertson's original trial lawyer discriminated against potential jurors who were black. Full Story
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![Mark Robertson was sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of Edna Brau, along with life sentences for the murder of Sean Hill, Brau's grandson, and Jeffrey Saunders, a convenience store clerk.]()
Credit: TDCJ -
In last-minute ruling, U.S. Supreme Court stops execution of “Texas Seven” prisoner
Patrick Murphy was one of the escaped convicts sentenced to death for the murder of Irving police officer Aubrey Hawkins during a robbery. The high court stopped his execution because Texas officials wouldn’t let a Buddhist chaplain into the death chamber with him. Full Story
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![Patrick Murphy.]()
Credit: Illustration by Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Prosecutor declares freed Texas death row inmate Alfred Dewayne Brown innocent, paving way for state compensation
Brown was freed from nearly a decade on death row in 2015, but because he was never declared "actually innocent," he couldn't get compensation for wrongful imprisonment — until Friday. Full Story
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![Alfred Dewayne Brown hugs his sister Connie Brown on the day of his release, June 8, 2015.]()
Credit: Karen Warren/ Houston Chronicle -
Texas executes Billie Coble, the oldest man put to death in the state during modern era of the death penalty
As the state put the 70-year-old to death, his son banged on the death chamber window. After an altercation with law enforcement, Coble's son and another relative were removed from the witness room and arrested. Full Story
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![Billie Coble. Feb 27, 2019.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
After Texas' second Supreme Court loss in a death penalty case, reform bill lands key GOP support
The chairs of two House committees signed on as joint authors of a bill that would set the method of determining if a capital murder defendant is intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for execution. Full Story
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For the second time, U.S. Supreme Court reverses death sentence decision for Texas inmate Bobby Moore
This time, the majority of the justices said Moore has shown he is intellectually disabled. Full Story
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![The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Bobby Moore, a man who has been on death row since 1980, in March 2017.]()
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Texas still doesn't have a law on intellectual disability and the death penalty. Will that change this year?
Nearly two decades after the U.S. Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional to execute those with intellectual disabilities, Texas still has no process on determining the condition — leaving life-and-death decisions in the hands of courts with very different methods. Full Story
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![Interior of Death Chamber by Texas Department of Criminal Justice.]()
Credit: Photo Illustration by Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune
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